US embassy cable - 04ABUDHABI348

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 000348 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR OPS, CA/OCS/ASC, DS, DSS, DS/IP/ITA, NEA/ARP, 
DS/IP, DS/IP/NEA, SES-O/DS/IP/CC, DSERCC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC, CASC, EAIR, PTER, AEMR, TC 
SUBJECT:  Follow Up on Sharjah Airplane Crash 
 
Ref: Dubai 613 
 
1.  On February 10 at approximately 1140 local time, a 
Kish Airlines Fokker-50 aircraft crashed on its 
approach to Sharjah International Airport, two miles 
before touchdown (Reftel).  ConGen has received a copy of 
the passenger manifest and confirmed that no Americans 
were on board.  Of the 39 passengers listed on the 
manifest, which includes neither the infant nor the 6 
crew members, approximately one third were Iranian, 
one third Indian, and the rest from Africa, the Middle 
East, and Asia.  Ahmed Bukalla, Director of Operations at 
Sharjah Civil Aviation, confirmed to PolEconoff on February 11 
that 43 of the 46 people on board had died, while 3 remained in 
critical condition. 
 
2. According to local media, the plane had been coming from 
Iran's Kish Island, making a standard low-cost "visa 
run" for laborers and workers in Dubai needing to renew their 
UAE visas.  The tragedy of so many people losing their lives 
for such a mundane reason appears to have hit home with Dubai's 
leadership, because Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid (MBR), Dubai's de fact 
ruler, issued an order Feb 10, effective immediately, instructing Dub 
immigration officials to cease requiring foreigners to travel abroad 
order to change their work permit status.  A contact in  MBR's Protoc 
Department confirmed to us Feb. 11 that the new procedure was already 
effect, and said it was the Government of Dubai's understanding that 
a similar edict at the UAE federal level would be forthcoming shortly 
 
3.  PolEconoff and FSNI visited the crash site the afternoon of 
Feb. 10.  The aircraft had crashed in an undeveloped strip of 
desert between two rows of houses, hitting no structures, vehicles, o 
people on the ground. The tail-end was the only part of the 
plane even partially intact, with the front-end completely 
destroyed.  No cause has yet been determined for the crash, 
but judging from the condition of the tail, the plane may 
have been in a poor state of repair: some parts of the tail, now 
painted over, appeared to have been badly corroded prior to the 
paint job. 
WAHBA